


Tiny Stories from a Tiny Town

by citylitlena



Series: ★Gone by Summer ★ [2]
Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Angst, Constellations, Cute, Depression, Fairy Tale Elements, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Forests, Gen, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, One Shot Collection, Past Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, References to Depression, Self-Harm, Shorts, Small Towns, Stargazing, Stars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:27:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23916040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/citylitlena/pseuds/citylitlena
Summary: A collection of one-shots written from the perspective of many Pelican Town residents. Takes place within the wider world of 'Gone By Summer'. The characters have so many prompts it's impossible not to take them in new and interesting directions, like Shane is so obviously going through some stuff and it's not explored enough, I want to see more of the progression of all of these sweet messy people's stories! So that's this work- a bunch of tiny stories in many different styles about Pelican Town.
Relationships: Jas & Marnie & Shane (Stardew Valley), Jas & Shane (Stardew Valley), Jas & Vincent (Stardew Valley)
Series: ★Gone by Summer ★ [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1272668
Comments: 5
Kudos: 17





	1. A Fairy Story! (By Jas!)

**Author's Note:**

> I tried to challenge myself to write like Jas would if she were writing an assignment about her favorite summer memory. Took a few liberties at the start but I think this is the version that came out after Penny patienty helped her out with some spellings and taught her a bunch about commas. They've still not quite gotten around using apostrophes, but as a former English teacher I think Jas is doing very we, especially in her composition. Penny and Jas= brilliant team and I give this story from Jas a gold star and a smily face!

I think grown-ups are a strange. I like lots of them, like auntie Marnie and Mr. Gunther who lives in the museum. Gunther sometimes gives me candy but says I have to keep it a secret. I think Miss Penny is pretty and I do like her, even though she sometimes makes us do homework. When I grow up I think I want to be as pretty as her, but I don’t want to be a teacher because I don’t think I will ever like homework as much as Miss Penny. What I would really like to be is a park ranger. 

My favorite thing is to go and play outside. I like skipping and picking flowers. Vincent and me sometimes go to the woods and play explorers. Sometimes I even climb a tree if Vincent is being annoying because he can not climb trees like I can. When I am in the woods I am mostly looking for fairies. That is why I think grown-ups are a bit weird. When I saw a fairy last year lots of people did not believe me! I think Shane was pretending that he did but I knew he did not. Mrs. Robin, aunt Marnie’s friend Caroline and Vincents brother all said I had a good imagination. I do, but I know when I am imagining things and when I am not. 

One time auntie Marnie was talking with Mrs. Robin about chopping down trees in the forest and which ones would be good to make firewood. Robin was talking about when she used to be a park ranger and had to chop down trees then. I asked her if she ever saw any fairies in the park and she said that she saw lots of weird things, even a monster! Mrs. Robin left so I went out walking with auntie Marnie and Vincent. Vincent and me got in a race. He was really fast and went around the corner before me. While I was trying to catch up I saw something glowy just off of the path. It was like a firefly but it was really bright and it was pink and purple colored. I was losing the race anyway so I followed it. 

You have to be very careful because fairies get scared a lot. So I was very quiet as I followed it. It was going off of the path quite far but when I found where I had seen it I saw a fairy flower there. Fairies like to sit on them because they look like pretty little seats and they smell really good. I took the fairy flower and ran after the little light. I had to crawl under a big bush and jump over some roots. There was an old tree that smelled strange and had fallen over a long time ago. It had some spiders on it so I was very careful not to step on them. 

I kept following the little light until it flickered over the biggest tree I had ever seen that was blocking the whole path. There was a little cliff on one side a fence on the other and this big log sitting right where I wanted to go. I knew I had seen the fairy go over it. There was not a way around so I tried to climb the log. It was really hard but I pulled as hard as I could. One of the branches fell off just as I was reaching the top though and I fell all the way back down to the ground. It was really scary. I bumped my head a bit and it felt really sore. It was so sore that it made me cry. 

I think auntie Marnie heard me crying, because I could hear her shouting somewhere behind me. I tried to be brave and wiped away my tears as much as I could. I saw that I had all this dirt on the sleeve of my jacket. My head was still sore and I really wanted to go and find auntie Marnie but I knew she would be mad because of the dirty jacket. I decided to go back to her anyway because she sounded really scared. But when I looked around, I did not know where I was any more. I could see the big tree trunk I had fallen off, where the fairy had gone, but looking around I just saw bushes and lots of big plants and more trees. Sometimes I thought auntie Marnie sounded like she was coming from one way, but then she called again and it sounded like she was behind me. I was really lost. I felt like I was going to cry again just then. I did cry a little bit. But that was when the fairy heard me! 

I saw her so close up! I was looking around, trying to find the way back to the path and there she was. She was sitting in a hole in a tree. I was so close I could see her tiny dress which was made from yellow petals. I thought fairies always had wands but maybe this one had lost hers because it was not there. I was worried that I had scared her by chasing her into the woods, so I told her: 

“Sorry for chasing you. I just really wanted to say hello to a fairy. My name is Jas!” 

She looked at me. I think she was smiling. She started moving through the woods again but this time she went slowly so that I could keep up. I still did not know where I was going but I felt much better because I was with the fairy. Sometimes she would turn around and wait for me to come to her and she was still smiling. I could hear auntie Marnie calling for me. It sounded like she was closer now. I called out to her. I wanted her to see the fairy. Then I went under a bush and I saw the path in front of me. Auntie Marnie was near there and she saw me. I wanted to show her the fairy, but I remember I saw her hiding in a leaf in the bush. She shook her head at me. I think she did not want to be seen by auntie Marnie. I put a finger on my lips to tell her that I would be quiet. She flew away when auntie Marnie got too close. It was sad to say goodbye but I knew I should tell auntie Marnie that I got hurt so she could tell me if it was okay. Auntie Marnie did not mention the dirt on my coat. She gave me a big hug and told me that she had been really worried about me. I felt a bit sad because she looked really scared. I think the fairy knew that and that was why she showed me the way back to auntie Marnie. 

A little bit later, when auntie Marnie said it was okay to go back into the forest I ran over there. She had told me to keep to the path and I did not want to make her so worried so I went slowly and stayed at the edge. When I found the bush that the fairy had hidden in, I took out my present. It was a little wand. I made it from the flower I had picked that night. I tied it on with a knot that Shane had taught me to a stick. Then I wrapped the stick in a really shiny candy wrapper. I do not think it was magic for me, but fairies can make anything magic. And a fairy needs a wand. 

So that’s why I want to be a park ranger like Mrs. Robin used to be. I want to never get lost and be able to go and find fairies. And if they need wands I will make one for them. And when I go into a park I will take pictures of the fairies so that the other grown-ups have to listen to me and know that fairies really do exist! 


	2. Trash Under a Starry Sky (or some garbage like that)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Title says it all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off: TW: self-harm and depression. 
> 
> Guess who? It's popular to do a sad shane fic, I know but I hope I can bring something interesting to the table, and despite the anthology nature of this work there will be some development on this later on, because I don't like Shane just being a sad guy and that being it. 
> 
> That said- brace for emotional whiplash from the very cute previous chapter.

Look into bottle. Try not to take a sip. Take a gulp instead.

Shane smirked and allowed a long belch to escape his mouth. Nobody was here to bother him about it anyway. Just him and his trash. Hard to tell the difference. He was still at the level of tipsy where he could feel a his gut twisting over what had happened earlier. Little Jas shouldn’t have seen that. She wasn’t meant to see the real him. Maybe Marnie had been right. Maybe Jas looked up to him so much that she’d end up drinking too.

The thought occurred to him that this was a stupid ass line of thinking. Then his common sense kicked in— could he really claim that his mom hadn’t helped him end up like this? He took another deep gulp. On the other hand could he really say that was the only factor? This beer tasted like shit though, that he could be sure of. Cheers to that. One thing that made sense. He raised a glass to nothing in particular and took one more deep gulp before the stream ended in another tossed bottle smashing on the cliffs below. Last one. Well fuck.

He gazed into the sky. It had turned dark since he’d slumped down here. Last time he’d been out here was just after the Egg Festival. Jas had wanted to see the stars. Marnie had persuaded him to come along because he hadn’t left the house all weekend.

“Besides…” Marnie had said, sticking her hands into her puffy vest. “Lil’ Jas looks up to you, Shane. Let’s all have a good night together!”

And they had a good night. Jas was excited to be up past bedtime— kids could turn into little gremlins when they were allowed to break one rule. Most of all she was fascinated by the stars. Maybe it had been years of grunt work and that one month of an attempt to go to college but nothing had cleared out his old scout skills from his head. Marnie was practical and made up some stories but Shane found himself telling Jas all about Cyrus the Cat, The South Dragon with it’s noodle-y tongue and the Jo-Ja Star Mascot, Johnathan. The kid had been so delighted he had to stop talking after every story just to let her stop running around or going “Ohh! Ahh!” at the sky. He had laughed along. The kid was always so happy.

Tonight he looked up at those same stars and smirked. Cyrus only looked like a cat if you squinted your eyes near closed and Jo-Star was some sort of shitty mascot from the 50s. Drawings of him looked like they could be a serial killer with absolutely no encouragement. No other mind could smile that creepily. He let that image sit in his head for a while and tried to smirk about that. He thought through all the words again in his head like a script rehearsed until it meant nothing. All the depressed trashfires on TV were allowed to be cynical at least. Guess even that was too much. Not even good enough to be critical of anything. The same constellations that had told stories about might as well have been dots on a sheet of black paper, their lines dotted and fading every day.

Hauling himself up on the tree he stumbled out from under the canopy. His eyes scanned the clear and sparkling sky. The Plow, The Prarie King and… Gunwhale Glory. With furious eyes he traced the line of the hull and sail of the boat in the sky. He knew it— a ship navigating the sea of dark. He remembered finding it a hundred times before as a kid- learning to navigate by following its prow. As a kid. He remembered how he felt finding it for the first time by himself. For the hundredth time to point his friends home. He remembered. It had felt.

And.

Now.

Nothing.

Not even anger.

Takes three tries to smash a bottle properly.

Tries three times not to cut a little.

Cuts anyway. Just a little.


End file.
